18 Years In Education Later, I May Have To Move On

18 years in education is not a short time.

I am seriously contemplating a move out of it.

For those who’ve known me for some time, this may seem unexpected. After all, it’s what most people I know have known me for, and know that I truly enjoy.

Thankfully, though, it’s not the only thing they know me for. I do have options.

Perhaps it’s worth talking about - why I’m thinking about leaving the education industry, at least in Singapore.

Those who are parents or are educators themselves know that our local education system has mandated a fairly recent “update” to the way schools are handling class allocation for their students.

Essentially, each class is “mixed” - with students from different backgrounds, who have different aptitudes, and who likely have different life experiences thus far.

Each student is projected to learn each subject at their pace and at a level that is projected to cater to them.

The intent behind it was noble. The marketing to the public was focused on the positive. The educators themselves were informed way ahead of time and deemed prepared.

The results are, to put it lightly, not great. Even taking into consideration the usual teething problems at the start of any huge change, there is a clear lack of support and knowledge of handling rising issues.

It all looks to me like a poorly-thought-out grand experiment and I’m not confident that it will yield the hoped-for results, at least not within the next 5 - 10 years.

Some schools had piloted the move since a couple of years ago, but, as of 2024, this is now a nation-wide programme.

As an educator for nearly 2 decades, I’ve had my share of difficult audiences.

What I haven’t faced in that time is the sheer number of difficult audiences over such a short time.

I cannot speak for the teachers in the schools, but, from my interactions with them, they, too, are facing difficulties.

Add this to the tremendously unfair practices around getting school programmes, which I have talked about before, and this becomes a serious push factor away from this sector.

Yes, my current employment revolves around this sector, and a move away from it will likely entail an end to this state of affairs.

It’s not an easy move to make, and I don’t relish the potential problems that doing so will bring.

That said, I am nearly at my limit with the current situation and, unlike teachers who are bonded to the system, I can much more easily make a move. I believe that, this time, I likely will.

Is the 10,000 Hour Rule Something To Keep Track Of? I'm Not So Sure.

The 10,000-hour rule.

Popularised by author Malcolm Gladwell in his book 'Outliers', I suddenly saw it being mentioned everywhere. You've likely heard of it, too.

If I recall correctly, it's also splashed out over a wall in our Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) building (in Singapore).

When I first heard of it, my immediate response was to think about something I was good at (or, at least, thought I was good at), and estimate-calculate the number of hours I'd put into it.

And...

I didn't quite hit 10,000 hours.

Did that mean that I wasn't really good at it?

I couldn't tell for sure, of course, and I didn't really want to go around asking whether I was good at teaching.

That seemed embarrassingly self-indulgent.

So, instead of wondering, I decided to double down on getting even better at it and, some time later, I started getting more and more positive comments and feedback about my style of teaching and my delivery skills.

I've stopped counting the hours.

Not because I think "I've arrived", but because teaching is something that I love to do and I've been consciously and purposefully testing methods and techniques over the many years I've been doing it.

Even if I'm not yet a "master" (by I-don't-know-whose standards), I'm certainly better than I was 15 years ago.

And that is good enough for me.

Autonomy in the Classroom Case Study: Forgery and Financial Crime

One of the modules I teach my students covers lessons on Forgery and Financial Crime.

One of the activities involves my students examining currency notes from different countries around the world, as well as bank cheques.

They perform the examinations with UV lights and a digital microscope. Of course, I show them what safety features to look out for before they go at it.

Here’s the thing:

I’ve had teachers from the schools I teach at expressing concern over the fact that I’m “distributing money” and worrying that I won’t get it back.

I tell them that I’ve done this for years and I’ve never lost a single currency note or any apparatus used for this activity.

All I do at the start of the activity is tell my students matter-of-factly that I want my currency notes and bank cheques back at the end of the session.

I don’t mention this again until it’s time to return everything.

There have been multiple cases of students trying to raise a reaction in me by playfully threatening to walk off with the currency notes. I simply smile (now quite hard to see, because I’m wearing a mask) and tell them that, when they’re done, they can put it back on my table.

The point is this: Students will test boundaries and they will test you. They often do this in order to feel you out - to see whether they can look up to you, treat you as a friend, or to see if they should avoid you.

It is up to you as a teacher to set those boundaries and stick to them. It is also up to you to express confidence in your students and their moral values - that they will do the right thing, given the opportunity.

Students don’t need to be nagged or coddled. They are fully capable of doing the right thing at the right time in the right way. Give them the space to do so.

To help your confidence, I haven’t lost a single currency note.

Why I Grant Autonomy to My Students, Part Three

[Granting Autonomy, Part Three]

I’m typically a hands-off kind of person. Maybe that’s why I find such appeal in autonomy and freedom of expression.

However, I’ve learned that not everyone is comfortable with so much space. Some of my students need structure and others need assurance and validation.

This makes it my job to be around for them when they feel uncertain or lost.

I’ve had students constantly asking if what they are doing is correct.

After a few times of me telling them, “there is no wrong answer to this”, and there really isn’t because their activities (at least the ones I design) are open-ended and exploratory, they start to get it and start tentatively trying things out on their own.

It may be tempting to skip the reassurances and do the experiment steps for them, but this doesn’t help anyone to learn, least of all me.

Take that time and spend that energy to be present for your students. It’ll pay off in spades, even if you don’t get to see it immediately.